Indices close mixed during April Trading volume average drops 14.56 pct

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended the month of April with variance on its indices. The Price Index closed at 7,291.09 points, down by 1.57% compared to the closings of the month before. The Weighted Index increased by 0.27% after closing at 493.08 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 1,208.68 points increasing by 0.58%. Furthermore, last month’s average turnover decreased by 22.80%, compared to the preceding month, reaching K.D 21.95 million, whereas trading volume average was 175.48 million shares, recording decrease of 14.56%.

The stock market performance declined in general despite the variance witnessed by its three indicators, as the selling and profit collection operations were active and included many stocks, especially the small-cap ones, which affected the Price Index in particular to decline to its lowest levels of the current year in one of the month’s sessions, which increased its accumulated annual loss significantly. In addition, the stock market performance varied in general during the month of May, as the decline of the market indices came in parallel with the decrease in the trading levels, especially the value which reached its lowest levels since August 2012 in one session, to record only K.D8.75 million on 25th May, among limited purchasing operations on one hand, and decreased desire to trade by some investors due to the missing supportive and investment attractive motivators, on the other hand.

Moreover, the delay by many listed companies in disclosing their 2014 first quarter financial results, was one of the pressure factors that affected the market activity, as the traders feared that some stocks get banned from trading due to exceeding the legal disclosure period, which caused a state of watch & caution, and noticeably affected the stock market trading activity. For the annual performance, the price index ended last month recording 3.42% annual loss compared to its closing in 2013, while the weighted index increased by 8.88%, and the KSX-15 recorded 13.13% increase.

Sectors’ IndicesFive of KSE’s sectors ended last month in the green zone. And the other Seven sectors ended in the red zone. Last month’s highest gainer was the Consumer Services sector, achieving 6.63% growth rate as its index closed at 1,173.16 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Insurance sector’s index closed at 1,171.30 points recording 3.63% increase. The Health Care sector came in third as its index achieved 2.35% growth, ending the month at 1,105.23 points. The Consumer Goods sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,305.91 points with a 0.15% increase. On the other hand, the last month’s highest loser was the Real Estate sector, recording 4.86% loss rate as its index closed at 1,255.75 points, followed by Financial Services sector as its index recorded 2.84% loss rate as its index closed at 1,015.63 points, The Oil & Gas sector was the least sector which record decrease as its index close at 0.43%, ending the month at 1,203.08 Points.

Sectors’ ActivityThe Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last month with 1.21 billion shares changing hands, representing 34.60% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 30.61% of last month’s total trading volume, with a total of 1.07 billion shares. On the other hand, the Banking sector’s stocks where the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of K.D. 139.10 million or 31.68% of last month’s total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sectors last month turnover of K.D. 106.44 million represented 106.44% of the total market trading value.